As of July 1, 2022, the updated Keystone STARS Performance Standards are in effect for all Pennsylvania certified child care programs. The Keystone STARS Performance Standards are intended to support programs in developing a meaningful, individualized continuous quality improvement (CQI) Plan. In addition, the Standards allow the broad diversity of early childhood education (ECE) providers in Pennsylvania to demonstrate quality practices in ways that are meaningful to them and the families in their care.

For additional details, including a recorded webinar on the 2022 Keystone STARS Performance Standards, the resource documents, and Keystone STARS Bonus Point Tip Sheets, visit the Pennsylvania Key website.

The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) received notice from the U.S. Department of Education that Pennsylvania’s Infant/Toddler and Preschool Early Intervention programs meet all the requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for year 2020-21. This is the Department’s highest recognition regarding the performance of each state’s Part C and Part B programs. Pennsylvania is one of the largest states to continue to meet requirements in the Infant/Toddler and Preschool Early Intervention programs over the past 16 years. This ongoing recognition speaks to the overall quality of the local Early Intervention programs. Learn more about Pennsylvania's Early Intervention programs on the PA Department of Education and Department of Human Services websites.

The Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) is asking all licensed child care facilities to share information about tuition rates and the true cost of care.

OCDEL, in partnership with the Pennsylvania Key and the Institute of State and Regional Affairs at Penn State Harrisburg, invites all licensed child care facilities to complete the 2022 Child Care Market Rate Survey. Results will allow OCDEL to evaluate future child care related programming and policy decisions, ​including Child Care Works rate setting. Completion of the survey by Pennsylvania child care providers is crucial in this process.

The 2022 Child Care Market Rate Survey should be completed by the facility's director, owner, or other person who is knowledgeable about the facility's operations and finances. The survey includes questions about private pay tuition rates, payments and fees, Child Care Works program participation, enrollment, staffing, and operations. Private pay tuition rates collected from this survey will be used to update a facility’s rates in the PELICAN system. Rates from PELICAN are also displayed publicly on websites such as the Compass Provider search.

This survey is being mailed to all licensed child care facilities in Pennsylvania and may be completed online OR on paper. Providers should complete the survey for the child care facility. If multiple facilities are owned by a single entity, complete a separate survey for each. Participation is voluntary, and participants may stop at any time.

At the end of the survey, a provider can enter the optional drawing for one of 100 $100 Amazon e-gift cards. Triple chances to win by returning the survey by September 1, 2022!

Surveys will be collected until October 11, 2022. For those with questions about the 2022 Child Care Market Rate Survey or who need help submitting the survey, should contact the Institute of State and Regional Affairs at ChildCareResearch@psu.edu or leave a toll-free voicemail at (866) 982-6433.

Pursuant to Act 30 of 2022, the suspension of various regulatory provisions under the state disaster emergency declaration that are currently in effect and which were set to expire on June 30, 2022, are now extended until October 31, 2022. A list of the regulations that were suspended in whole or in part and their current status is available here.

Get ready for the next phase of the Certification Rewrite Project! The Internal Workgroups have incorporated the feedback provided by the Early Learning Council Ad Hoc Regulation Rewrite Subcommittee into an updated draft of the proposed regulations. In the coming weeks these updated draft will be shared via a Pennsylvania Early Ed News Special Announcement and anyone interested in providing feedback will have the opportunity to do so. All information will be available on the Child Care Certification Regulation Rewrite Project page of the Pennsylvania Key’s website. To learn the journey of Pennsylvania’s Certification Rewrite Project up until this point and hear about next steps, view this video from OCDEL Deputy Secretary, Tracey Campanini.

Pennsylvania was recently represented at the 2022 National Community Schools and Family Engagement Conference in Los Angeles, California. Sarah Holland, Mary Mikus, and Sadia Batool from the Pennsylvania Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) presented their session, Leveraging family voice to transform early childhood systems.

This session highlighted Pennsylvania’s Family Engagement Birth through College, Career Community Ready Framework, and its companion guide for families, developed by Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE). These documents outline Standards for creating strong, equal partnerships for family engagement and leadership in children’s development and education to professionals and families. This session also featured the various Family Engagement initiatives available to Pennsylvania’s early childhood families that support them in their role as parents/caregivers and key partners in systems building and strengthening.

Presenters shared the authentic Family Engagement practices in place prior to the pandemic that led Pennsylvania to seamlessly adjust to the new realities and implement innovative, creative, and more efficient ways to strive for equitable family engagement opportunities for early childhood families. Participants were also introduced to Pennsylvania’s Early Childhood Comprehensive Systems Health Integration Prenatal-to-three project that focuses on cross-sector collaboration and partnership, health system transformation, state-level policy and fiscal innovation, family leadership, and advancing equity in maternal and early childhood systems.

For more information, contact Sadia Batool at c-sabatool@pa.gov, Mary Mikus at mmikus@pattankop.net, or Sarah Holland at saholland@pa.gov. 

Toni Miguel, Ph.D., consultant with Early Intervention Technical Assistance for Pennsylvania Training and Technical Assistance Network (PATTAN) has been appointed the new Chair of the Division for Early Childhood (DEC) for the Council of Exceptional Children Family Committee, effective July 1, 2022. As Chair of the DEC Family Committee, Toni will support DEC leadership and membership to cultivate meaningful family-professional partnerships. Her professional work focuses on supporting early childhood personnel to deliver high quality, inclusive, and equitable educational experiences for diverse young children. She is also the mother of two young children who have received Early Intervention services. Learn more about DEC.

Early childhood education (ECE) professionals interested in attending college for the Fall semester that begins this August should apply to T.E.A.C.H. now!  T.E.A.C.H. applications must be complete and submitted with all required documentation/ information by Friday, July 15, 2022, to be considered for the Fall 2022 semester. PACCA will continue to accept applications on an ongoing basis, however incomplete applications and applications received after this date will not receive priority for consideration. NOTE: New scholarship awards for the Fall 2022 semester will be dependent upon funding availability at that time.

Interested applicants should also begin the college admissions process now and contact an ECE advisor at their intended college/university. This helps to ensure that scholarship applicants are admitted to their college/university and can register for courses if/when they receive a T.E.A.C.H. scholarship. T.E.A.C.H. can provide contact information for ECE advisors at partnering institutions if needed.

Need More Information? Click here to for details on eligibility, program requirements and to download a scholarship application. Questions? Click here to contact a T.E.A.C.H. Counselor.

T.E.A.C.H. Early Childhood® PENNSYLVANIA is supported by the Office of Child Development and Early Learning (OCDEL) of Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DHS) and Pennsylvania’s Department of Education (PDE). For more information, visit dhs.pa.gov and education.pa.gov. 

Child care providers who received a message regarding unspent funding when trying to submit and finalize their program's spending report for the ARPA grant, should now go back into the spending report to submit and finalize. Remember to add the capacity care level first before submitting. Learn more.

On July 1, 2022, the new process for Keystone STARS pre-designation and designation applications launched in Pennsylvania’s Professional Development (PD) Registry. Moving more functionality into the PD Registry streamlines multiple processes into one system and designation for providers. Watch the recorded demonstration of new streamlined Keystone STARS. 

2023

In a policy statement from the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), published online June 21, 2022, in Pediatrics, updated recommendations are presented for a safe infant sleep environment. The recommendations include:

Read the Policy Statement or the Technical Report.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends that everyone ages 6 months and older get vaccinated against coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Now available from the CDC are resources for parents/caregivers, vaccine providers, and partners.

U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning parents, caregivers, and health care providers not to use neck floats with babies for water therapy interventions, especially with babies who have developmental delays or special needs, such as spina bifida, spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) type 1, Down syndrome, or cerebral palsy. The use of these products can lead to death or serious injury. Learn more.

Thank you to the many wonderful presenters who submitted proposals to present at the 2022 Early Childhood Education Summit. The committee has been putting together a terrific program for Summit participants. Registration for participants is open NOW; full program details should be available by mid-July. Questions? Send an email to info@earlychildhoodsummit.org.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Human Services (DHS) is changing which Physical Health Managed Care Organizations (PH plans) are available for Medical Assistance (MA) consumers. This was a competitive process that allowed DHS to improve access to care and the quality of care for MA consumers. The PH plan changes are effective September 1, 2022. MA Consumers will need to select a new PH plan if they are currently enrolled in:

If a consumer who needs to choose a new PH plan does not do so by August 16, DHS will auto-assign them to a to PH plan. It is vital for consumers to actively choose a PH plan to avoid being autoassigned to a PH plan that may not include their current providers in its

network. MA consumers will not lose health coverage if they do not select a PH plan.

Coverage will automatically continue under the PH plan they are autoassigned.

MA consumers must contact PA Enrollment Service to choose a new PH plan or change from one PH plan to another.

More information is available at dhs.pa.gov/PlanSelection. Those interested in sharing this information can access resources in the stakeholder's toolkit.

Little Seeds and KidsGardening have launched the 2022 Little Seeds Pollinator Pals Grant! This grant will award a total of 20 programs $500 in funding to develop new or expand existing pollinator gardens. Any nonprofit organization, school district, university, government entity, or tax-exempt organization, like religious organizations and Tribal governments, in the United States and US Territories serving at least 15 youth is eligible to apply. Programs must be planning a new or expanding an existing youth garden designed to teach about the importance of pollinators. Learn more.

With over 9,000 young children, birth to four, living in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and with over 70% of them with all parents working, Franklin County’s leaders, came together as the Early Learning Consortium to work on a plan for improving the early education system in Franklin County. The first phase of the work, conducted in the first half of 2022, focused on bringing people together from Franklin County to learn about the current situation, barriers, and potential solutions for consideration in the second phase of the work, which will focus on a community action plan. The First Start Partnerships for Children & Families has released the Phase One Report: Improving the Early Education System in Franklin County. Learn more.

A recent study, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy among low-income, racially and ethnically diverse US parents, published in Parent Education and Counseling, outlines the main drivers of parent hesitancy regarding child COVID-19 vaccination include perceived safety and efficacy of the vaccines and lower severity of illness in children. Many vaccine-hesitant parents may be open to vaccination in the future and welcome additional discussion and data, the researchers found.

Results were based on 50 parents of 106 children, newborn-17 years; half were Spanish-speaking and half English-speaking. Among participants, 62% were hesitant about vaccinating their children against COVID-19. Efficacy and safety were the main themes that emerged as some parents perceived them as benefits while others perceived them as risks to vaccination. Parent hesitancy often relied on social media, and was influenced by narrative accounts of vaccination experiences. Many parents cited the lower risk of negative outcomes from COVID-19 among children, when compared with adults. Some also cited inaccurate and constantly changing information about COVID-19 vaccines.

The ways in which infants at six months of age are parented exerts an influence on the children’s sleep quality at 18 months which, in turn, is associated with aggressive behavior in early childhood, according to the recently release study, Parenting and maternal reported child sleep problems in infancy predict school-age aggression and inattention, published in Sleep Health.

The modeling showed that harsh-intrusive parenting—in which the mother demonstrated high levels of negativity toward her infant during a play interaction—at six months predicted sleep problems at 18 months. Maternal reported sleep problems at 18 months predicted aggressive behaviors in kindergarten and second grade. This set of analyses also demonstrate that sleep can impact future behavior, even into the elementary school years.

The National Farm to School Network (NFSN) and The Policy Equity Group (PEG) has released the Farm to Early Care and Education Shared Metrics: Outcomes, Indicators, and Measures for Farm to ECE Evaluation. This resource is intended for farm to ECE practitioners and evaluators to guide planning, implementation, research, evaluation, and reporting efforts. The resource focuses on outcomes, indicators, and measures specific to farm to ECE and emphasizes metrics related to equity. This work aligns to farm to ECE-specific metrics and tools to move our collective work forward under shared priorities and language. This alignment of priorities can also guide and improve decision making for policymakers and funders who can make better informed decisions on the growth and direction of the farm to ECE movement. The new resource consists of:

Afterschool Is Rising to the Moment to Support Mental Well-Being of Youth Afterschool Alliance, National Recreation and Park Association, STEM Next, Million Girls Moonshot, and National Summer Learning Association held a Twitter Chat to discuss how afterschool is rising to the moment to support the physical and mental well-being of youth and how programs can continue to support their communities. Learn about key moments and resources.

Have you joined OCDEL's Summer Learning and Literacy Road Trip? During July, join the virtual road trip to explore the Beaver Area Memorial Library, Erie County Public Library, Lackawanna County Library System, and Upper Darby Township & Sellers Memorial Free Public Library. Print the Road Map and My Summer Learning and Literacy Road Trip Travel Journal and share with children and their families in your care. My Summer Learning and Literacy Road Trip Travel Journal is a great way to help children explore books and fun activities. Each week, discover something new with children, then help them complete their Travel Journal. Resources are available in English and Spanish.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health has available the one-page document, Protecting Kids for Outdoor Air Pollution, which contains information about the effects of outdoor air pollution, and tips for protecting children from outdoor air pollution.

COVID-19 vaccines can help you, your family, and your whole neighborhood stay safe and healthy. Sesame Street has new resources that let families know it’s okay to have questions about getting their children vaccinated and to encourage parents and caregivers to get informed about the COVID-19 vaccines. Share these resources with families in your care to let them know it’s okay to have questions and to talk to a pediatrician or healthcare provider for the latest facts about the vaccines. Watch Elmo get the vaccine video, print the You can do it poster and share the printable Questions for my Doctor sheet.

Several supports and resources are available for families who may be experiencing challenges due to the shortage of infant formula, and the professionals who support them.

The National Center on Parent, Family, and Community Engagement (NCPFCE) has launched the new Text4FamilyServices, a text messaging service for family services professionals, supervisors, and other staff who work directly with families is tailored to support and enhance the vital work you do every day. Subscribe to Text4FamilyServices to receive two to three free text messages per month based on your role. Discover strategies you can implement right away, opportunities for reflection, and links to helpful resources. You will also receive texts about upcoming professional development opportunities, the newest PFCE resources, and Office of Head Start campaigns. Text PFCE to (toll-free) 833-302-0206. Select your job title [family services staff, supervisor, other] and preferred language [English or Spanish] to start receiving free PFCE text messages. 

The Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication (CPHRC) recently completed a four-year research project to understand and address the information needs of families with children and youth with special health care needs during disasters. As part of this project, developed was a toolkit of materials for families of CYSHCN and their healthcare providers to help address these information needs. Learn more.

Share with families you serve that Big Waves, Inc. is offering free gun locks to secure a firearm. One free lock per household. Learn more.

The June resources from Camille Catlett are now available. The June edition of Baby Talk has information on a family routine guide, raising a high-achieving kid and more. The June release of Natural Resources has free resources about and for fathers.